I was one of the last people I knew – besides my parents, who don’t really count – to get an iPhone. It took so long for me to obtain said item that I was renewing my contract at the same time as the iPhone 3G S became available for free. At this point, the iPhone 4G S was the hottest item.

It took until I moved to New York for people to comment on my “outdated” technology. Seriously. This went so far as to a complete stranger (perhaps trying to be witty, who knows?) turned to me in a bar and said, “wow, your phone is so old – why do you still have that” as if I had the plague. What am I supposed to do, haul off and just buy a new phone as to avoid social ridicule in New York? Apparently so. But that’s another story.

My phone is just about to get older, however, because last week rumors concerning the iPhone 5’s release started to circulate. Apparently, Apple are set to change the docking pins on this device, which means any of the accoutrements that one may have purchased for their iPhone 4 or 3 will no longer be compatible. This also means that Apple and its associated companies (who make said accoutrements) are set to make a lot of money.

So, if you want to keep up with the latest technology, you’re going to have to abandon your current phone, charger, music dock (if you have one) keyboard, and anything else to which your phone plugs in. Any images, music notes and convenient apps will either have to be transferred to this new device, up the cloud, or you’ll have to start from scratch and redownload everything.

Personally, I am incredibly attached to my phone. And as more professionals rely on mobile technology to conduct business, it seems the contents of their devices become all the more precious. Business-related apps help to complete tasks on the go, images of family and friends are hard to replace – who even has hard copies of photographs any longer? – and some people save important data and presentations to review in the car or while waiting for a plane.

A device which is intended to make life a lot easier for work and for socialization carries so much weight these days. And, at the end of the day, it’s only a piece of equipment. Were we all to abandon our smart phones, it seems like there would be a widespread sense of panic and disconnect, because while important information can be saved, many people quite easily freak out not having it all in the palm of their hands.

We make deals over the internet, we converse with loved ones far away over Skype and we save important data to our smartphones. At this point, could anyone forsee going back to a world without this kind of access?

While the commercial real estate industry might have been a touch slower than most to embrace social media and internet technologies, many a broker, CEO or analyst is married to the latest in Apple/Samsung/Blackberry gadgetry and being connected 24/7 has been integral to signing the latest deal. Giving up a smartphone is not an option in many circles. Instead, we want more: faster connections, better cameras, ways to conduct business from anywhere in the world, the latest apps to keep us abreast of developments. So how can a new piece of technology go above and beyond the kind of access that is keeping business ticking over smoothly today?

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

What do you think: will the iPhone 5 provide better options for the way your business runs? Will you buy it immediately?